Gold Cup

United States goalkeeper Tim Howard blasts CONCACAF for its poor handling of Gold Cup postgame ceremony

The 32-year-old believes that the region's soccer governing body handled the trophy presentation poorly. Is it time for CONCACAF to adjust its handling of the final in the future?

Jun 26, 2011 2:19:00 AM

By Alex Labidou

More On : Mexico, USA

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Tim Howard, USA (Getty Images)

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PASADENA, Calif – For a team hosting a Gold Cup final on its soil, there was something awry at the Rose Bowl during Mexico’s 4-2 come-from-behind thrashing of the United States.

No, it wasn’t Jonathan Bornstein’s horrendous marking performance against Mexico’s wingers.

Rather, it was sea of green jerseys that swarmed the 92,000-seat stadium and the fact the trophy presentation was emceed by a famous Mexican television host, Fernando Fiore, who only spoke in English to announce the United States as the players picked up their runner-up medals.

There is nothing wrong with the presentation being in Spanish but since CONCACAF is a governing body that represents both of its English and Spanish speaking finalists, there should have been a concerted effort to have a trophy celebration that was entirely bilingual. It isn’t something out of the ordinary in soccer, as UEFA conducts its games in the languages of both teams competing.

The player’s frustrations in the mishandled ceremony were evident.

“CONCACAF should be ashamed of themselves, I think it is a f***ing disgrace the entire postmatch ceremony was in Spanish,” said U.S. starting goalkeeper Tim Howard. “You could bet your a** if this was Mexico City, [even if we won], the ceremony wouldn’t be all in English.”

While part of Howard’s outrage was obviously due to seeing his backline play extremely poorly after having a 2-0 lead, but he also had a point.

As much as the Mexican support is admirable and appreciated, it was embarrassing to see almost 90 percent of the Rose Bowl filled with fans from the visiting team. Boos could actually be heard when the U.S. anthem was played. In no other country in the world, including Mexico, would that be tolerated.

While some might blame the U.S. poor fan showing on indifference, that isn’t entirely the case.

There were many message boards where fans of the Stars and Stripes complained about an inability to purchase tickets once the U.S. secured its trip to the final. Yes, it is a prudent decision to buy tickets prior to the tournament, but what if the final had been between Panama and Honduras? In a economy that is still recovering, shelling at least $100 on two tickets might be risky for those who aren’t sure if their team will make it.

A proper solution to the problem is emulating what UEFA does with its international matches.

Reserving sections for people who have ticket history attending U.S. matches and American fan groups like Sons of Sam and American Outlaws is a good way to ensure that the host country’s fans are properly included. It doesn’t have to be a majority or a split amount of seats reserved; it could be based on reasonable expectations.

In a city that regularly sells out the 27,000-seater Home Depot Center for Los Angeles Galaxy, a similar number could have saved for U.S. fans. Even if CONCACAF sold 80 percent of those tickets, it could use the remaining tickets to preserve game-day availability. There were lines of people surrounding the Rose Bowl who were looking for tickets. Surely, with the region’s top two teams facing off against each other, it should be easy to sell 5,000 tickets in day.

After all, what’s the point of having a host country if it can’t have its own fans present in its pinnacle match?

Alex Labidou is the Deputy Editor of Goal.com USA. Agree or disagree with the story above? Give him a shout @sportslab on Twitter.

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